Not Another Novel Blog

February 13, 2016February 14, 2016

Valentine’s day

All week I’ve been listening to people telling me that Valentine’s Day is a made up holiday, it’s just created by the marketing companies to sell cards and chocolate. Funnily enough, I’m inclined to agree.
I was shopping at the supermarket on this very, Valentine’s eve and what should I see, men of all ages buying flowers, cards and chocolates. Well, if it is a made up holiday just to sell stuff, it’s working at least on these last minute shoppers without an ounce of originality or romance between them.
I got to thinking that maybe Valentine’s is a load of rubbish and that we shouldn’t be bothered with it. Watching these guys picking up the chocolates strategically placed by a supermarket worker made me realise that lots of women will wake up tomorrow to the exact same box of chocolates and an
almost identical bunch of flowers.
This led me to wonder if it’s the holiday that sucks or the people that ‘celebrate’ it. This year I’m getting married and so we decided we didn’t need valentine’s day. I still got my other half a card tho. I went on funkypigeon and made a personalised card, took me ten minutes from start to finish, including writing a short, silly poem and I never even had to leave my chair. It was lazy and yet it was highly appreciated (I was a bit pleased with it and made her open it early) and it was cheaper than most of the generic cards on offer in stores.
My gripe is this, you don’t need to wait for one particular day to be romantic and if you are going to wait for that day make more of an effort than picking up what what your local store has laid out in its foyer. The Internet gives you access to a whole world of creative people that, with just a little info, will make you a personalised gift your other half will love. Then buy her some chocolate too, you know, because women love chocolate!